BMW 1 Series Coupe Forum / 1 Series Convertible Forum (1M / tii / 135i / 128i / Coupe / Cabrio / Hatchback) (BMW E82 E88 128i 130i 135i)
 





 

Post Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      04-24-2014, 12:58 AM   #1
ItsHectic
But your honour it's my Affluenza I swear!
Australia
57
Rep
533
Posts

Drives: at a reasonable speed
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: NSW

iTrader: (0)

To professional detailers

I am seriously considering becoming an interior car detailer and I have a few questions:

Do you think doing interiors only is okay? Or do you find most your clients just want the whole car done and would rather take it somewhere who would do exterior as well, I really do not want to do the exterior.

Have you ever damaged a car? I am concerned about detaching the adhesive of the roofliner due to too much steam or shorting the circuits on buttons or damaging plastic due to polishing.

Is it decent money for your work?

Do people leave the car with you or do you do it in front of them?

How long can the job take?

How much was the layout for your equipment and what does it include, do you have an ozone generator and de-humidifier?

Do you charge per hour or per service?

Do you have buisiness insurance for theft and accidental damage?

Do you ever have to get fiddly and remove interior pieces, if so what have you removed such as seats?
__________________
135i M Sport DCT. BSM/Oyster/GP trim. FBO Cobb, Bilstein EDC coilovers, M3 bushings, PSS.
Knowledge of the Tapa Tapa Tapa street race start.

Last edited by ItsHectic; 04-24-2014 at 01:11 AM..
Appreciate 0
      04-24-2014, 01:15 AM   #2
DNG
Private First Class
9
Rep
135
Posts

Drives: 128i
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Orange County, CA

iTrader: (1)

I'm not a professional detailer, myself, but I know a lot of people in the industry. To be honest, I don't think doing only interiors will keep you in business. Many professional detailers are actually expanding their scope of work to make sure they always have customers. For example, detailers can add to their typical "wash" by offering paint correction, paint protective film, coatings, vinyl wraps, etc. to their menu.
Appreciate 0
      04-24-2014, 03:04 AM   #3
Dackelone
European Editor
Dackelone's Avatar
Germany
10512
Rep
22,992
Posts

Drives: N54 e82
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Bayern, Germany

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like you need to go work for someone... and pay your "dues". You can learn how to clean the outside and see for yourself first hand all the negs and pluses. And you won't have to invent any money except for your time. G.L.

Dack
Appreciate 0
      04-30-2014, 08:48 PM   #4
Ehwnnc
Second Lieutenant
Ehwnnc's Avatar
97
Rep
243
Posts

Drives: 11 335i
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: North Carolina

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ItsHectic View Post
I am seriously considering becoming an interior car detailer and I have a few questions:

Do you think doing interiors only is okay? Or do you find most your clients just want the whole car done and would rather take it somewhere who would do exterior as well, I really do not want to do the exterior.Doing only interior will get you no where.

Have you ever damaged a car? I am concerned about detaching the adhesive of the roofliner due to too much steam or shorting the circuits on buttons or damaging plastic due to polishing. If you are not comfortable doing a job do not do it.

Is it decent money for your work? Depends on a lot of things. How much are you charging? After the amount of time and products you use, how much profit is there?

Do people leave the car with you or do you do it in front of them? I always have the car left with me.

How long can the job take? Depends on the job, anywhere from 1 hour to 20 hours or more.

How much was the layout for your equipment and what does it include, do you have an ozone generator and de-humidifier? It is very espensive to get started but this also depends on what kind of jobs you want to do.

Do you charge per hour or per service? Per service unless im doing paint correction and thats per hour.

Do you have buisiness insurance for theft and accidental damage? I do not but it is not my only job. I do it on the weekends.

Do you ever have to get fiddly and remove interior pieces, if so what have you removed such as seats?Yes I do on certain jobs but I have a long history of working on cars so its no big deal for me..
.
Appreciate 1
      04-30-2014, 08:54 PM   #5
Kgolf31
Brigadier General
Kgolf31's Avatar
459
Rep
4,531
Posts

Drives: 2007 Z4MC, 2012 128i
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Ohio

iTrader: (4)

I've done exterior for a year or so and stopped.

I've found that you can never meet some customer expectations. Even when you tell them what you're going to do...how you're going to do it and the results, people always want more.

I actually had a customer get mad at me because after I detailed his car, he could see the rock chips easier and demanded why I didn't fix them...and this was after I wetsanded at least 4 scratches from his car. True story.

In the end, it just wasn't worth my time or money. I was making around $500 or so a car, and it was a cool side-gig but my weekends were consumed with working on cars. I did a G35 once and didn't expect how hard it was to correct that paint, and ended up spending close to 40 hours in paint correction to get the job done right.


And yes, I've destroyed a bumper before and loss my ass on it. The bumper was repainted and the owner didn't know about it. I hit it with a polisher and instantly ripped the paint off the bumper and all the way down to the plastic. Really that was the deciding moment when I thought I would just stick to doing my own cars.
Appreciate 0
      04-30-2014, 08:56 PM   #6
Ehwnnc
Second Lieutenant
Ehwnnc's Avatar
97
Rep
243
Posts

Drives: 11 335i
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: North Carolina

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kgolf31 View Post
I've done exterior for a year or so and stopped.

I've found that you can never meet some customer expectations. Even when you tell them what you're going to do...how you're going to do it and the results, people always want more.

I actually had a customer get mad at me because after I detailed his car, he could see the rock chips easier and demanded why I didn't fix them...and this was after I wetsanded at least 4 scratches from his car. True story.

In the end, it just wasn't worth my time or money. I was making around $500 or so a car, and it was a cool side-gig but my weekends were consumed with working on cars. I did a G35 once and didn't expect how hard it was to correct that paint, and ended up spending close to 40 hours in paint correction to get the job done right.


And yes, I've destroyed a bumper before and loss my ass on it. The bumper was repainted and the owner didn't know about it. I hit it with a polisher and instantly ripped the paint off the bumper and all the way down to the plastic. Really that was the deciding moment when I thought I would just stick to doing my own cars.
Man Thats rough. I try to be very clear to my customers of what to expect and so far i have had no complaints.

As far as the bumper that would piss me off real bad
Appreciate 0
      04-30-2014, 11:14 PM   #7
ItsHectic
But your honour it's my Affluenza I swear!
Australia
57
Rep
533
Posts

Drives: at a reasonable speed
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: NSW

iTrader: (0)

Yea polishing paint does not seem to be something I would be capable of doing professionally but cleaning a cars interior seems a lot more easier and less monotonous.

Thanks guys I think I will find some other work to do besides detailing cars.
__________________
135i M Sport DCT. BSM/Oyster/GP trim. FBO Cobb, Bilstein EDC coilovers, M3 bushings, PSS.
Knowledge of the Tapa Tapa Tapa street race start.
Appreciate 0
Post Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:17 AM.




1addicts
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST